Understandable. Wakabayashi is the executive director of Emerge Pennsylvania, the local chapter of the national accelerator for Democratic women running for office, which just had a killer night: Six out of six alumnae who ran for office, including five members of the 2017 class and one from 2016, won their races.

For each cohort, Emerge PA trains Democratic women new to politics over six months, with two trainings in Philadelphia, two in Pittsburgh and two in Harrisburg.

Emerge also fosters a support system, “providing them with a network to counter the old boys’ network” of traditional politics, she said. That’s meant alumnae who live in Centre County knocking on doors for alumnae running in Delaware County, and fundraising for candidates in each corner of the state.

An average cohort will see 40 to 50 applicants vying for 25 spots. Wakabayashi said 2017’s class gained a whopping 100 applications, and the national network saw an 87 percent increase overall — which Wakabayashi decidedly attributes to backlash from the 2016 presidential election.

“This was the first real test of the resistance, and Emerge is training the resistance right now,” she said. Many applications this year have been from women organizing protests, like Philly’s Tuesdays with Toomey, across the state. “Are these protests going to turn into actual electoral results? Are these people actually going to vote? I think that was answered last night when women overwhelmingly won and progressives overwhelmingly won and Democrats have won in places they have not won, ever.”

Next up is 2018, when Wakabayashi expects even more Emerge alumnae to announce candidacies.

“You can imagine, we’ve been having a really tough year,” she said. “It’s very nice to see what we did is working.”